Keynote Speakers and Data Blitz presenters

Keynote Speakers

Gustavo Carlo, Ph.DMillsap Professor of Diversity Human Development and Family Science University of Missouri​Dr. Gustavo Carlo is the Millsap Professor of Diversity and Multicultural Studies in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri. His primary research interest is understanding the development of prosocial development and well being in children and adolescents across the world. Many of his projects focus on U.S. ethnic/racial groups, including Latino/a youth and families. He has published over 200 books, chapters, and research papers on this topic. He has received funding from various agencies (including NSF, NIH) and has served as associate editor and on editorial boards for several journals (including Developmental Psychology, Journal of Research on Adolescence). Dr. Carlo has also received several awards for his research and mentorship. He currently serves as Director of the Center for Children and Families Across Cultures, Associate Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development, and Co-Editor of the upcoming APA Handbook of Adolescent Development.

Presentation Title: The Interplay of Parenting, Values, and Culture-Specific Mechanisms to Account for Within-Group Cultural Variations in Prosocial DevelopmentThere is a long tradition of research devoted to understanding individual and culture group variations in prosocial and moral development. Based on the notion that children’s development stems from values, context, and practices (e.g., Whiting, Harkness), research on prosocial development with a focus on accounting for within-culture group variations in these outcomes is summarized. Our approach is founded on the notion that culture-related mechanisms (including cultural values) help to account for individual and group variations in prosocial development, that cultural values are transmitted from caregivers (parents) to offspring, and that cultural values are linked to prosocial and moral behaviors. Findings from studies on U.S. Latino/a populations are presented to provide support for these assertions.

Dr. Jensen is a Senior Research Scientist at Clark University, Massachusetts. In recent years, she has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (2016-17), the University of Bordeaux, France (2017-18), and Tufts University (currently). She is the originator of the “cultural-developmental” theoretical approach to research on human psychology. This approach encompasses what is universal and what is culturally distinctive about human development, and it provides a flexible and dynamic way to think about psychological development in today’s global world. Dr. Jensen’s current research projects address moral development and cultural identity. Her publications include the Oxford Handbook of Moral Development (2020, Oxford University Press), Child Development: A Cultural Approach, 3e (2020, Pearson), Human Development: A Cultural Approach, 3e (2019, Pearson), Child Development Worldwide: A Cultural Approach, 1e (2018, Pearson), the Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture (2016, Oxford University Press), Moral Development in a Global World: Research from a Cultural-Developmental Perspective (2015, Cambridge University Press), and Bridging Cultural and Developmental Psychology: New Syntheses for Theory, Research and Policy (2012, Oxford University Press). ​Website: https://lenearnettjensen.com/

Presentation Title: Moral Development in a Global WorldToday, children all over the world develop in the context of globalization. They interact with diverse people, are familiar with diverse ideas and values, and often know different languages. In such a globalizing world, the psychological self—including the moral self—is becoming increasingly complex. Because development is complex for more and more children and adults, we have the challenge and the opportunity to envision a new kind of social science. In my view,one-size-fits-all theories, which were popular in the social sciences of the 20th century, are often too rigid and too biased to adequately capture the complexities of individual selves and human relations across diverse and changing cultures. On the other hand, one-theory-for-every-culture does not seem compelling either. It raises the specter of theoretical pandemonium and does not capture the fact that humans everywhere share common psychological characteristics. An alternative is to conceptualize theories that are “cultural-developmental” in nature. In my presentation, I will describe this cultural-developmental approach and primarily draw on work in the area of moral development as an example.

​Audun Dahl is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from UC Berkeley. His research investigates how young children acquire social skills, concerns, and understanding through everyday social interactions.

Sarah Pierotti teaches courses related to development across the lifespan, family relationships, culture, and poverty.She is currently finishing her PhD in Human Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in HDFS through the University of Missouri and plans to graduate in December 2019.

Dr. Jeanine Grütter received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Grütter has been a postdoctoral research associate at Tribhuvan University in Nepal and the Lab for Social and Moral Development at the University of Maryland in the U.S.A, where she remains a frequent visitor. Since 2018, Dr. Grütter has joined the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich as a postdoctoral research associate, where she is examining the interplay in the development of different competencies and the role of contextual factors (i.e., school context, peer relations) from early childhood to young adulthood.

Karin Frey is a Research Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the College of Education. She got her Ph.D from the University of Washington in Developmental Psychology. Her research focuses on contextual influences on revenge, helping behavior, self-identity and resilience.

Dr. Yang received her Ph.D in Developmental Psychology from the University of Cambridge, UK. Her primary research interest is to identify factors in the developmental contexts and processes that foster resilience and positive development, with special attention to the historical and/or social-economical structural inequalities experienced by children and youth in today’s society.